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Tim Reed, Asian head of derivatives at Commerzbank Securities in Tokyo, has joined Merrill Lynch in Tokyo as a director and senior proprietary trader.

ABN AMRO plans to launch a hedge fund platform in London from which it will structure products, such as capital protected notes.

In response to excessive reneging on derivatives contracts, the China Banking Regulatory Commission now requires full disclosure of risks with respect to the sale of each product, customer confirmation that it fully understands and is capable of accommodating the risks and demands the use of international standard contracts, such as the International Swaps and Derivatives Association's master agreement.

Derivatives houses, including Lehman Brothers and JPMorgan, are considering building liquid government bond indices, on which they could structure swaps.

U.S. derivatives professionals at a recent Structured Products Association conference highlighted hybrid products as the hot topic for the year and said firms are so keen to get in on the action many of them are reorganizing their capital market groups.

Dealers were unwinding carry trades in which market participants had sold off the U.S. dollar and bought the higher-yielding Mexican peso because the greenback appreciated.

Joonkee Hong, managing director and head of Korea debt markets at Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, is joining Lehman Brothers in Hong Kong in a newly created role as Asian head of global finance in the coming weeks.

Deutsche Bank has hired Wayne Edelist, marketer at Goldman Sachs in New York, for a new role on its Hong Kong sales desk.

Offshore hedge funds executing curve steeping trades in Taiwan have pushed up five-year interest rate swap rates in recent weeks.

Investec's banking and treasury services arm in London is researching the U.K. investment products market with a view to ramping up its future issuance.

Swiss Re is planning to start a European exotic interest rate derivatives business and has hired Jonathan Graham, exotic interest rate derivatives trader at Bank of America in London, to lead the charge.

The price of credit protection on J Sainsbury fell last week after the U.K. grocer published a positive trading statement.